Chapter 6
Chapter Six:
"Was attacking your sensei the best course of action you could have taken?" Kuro asks, walking beside his summoner. It's still early in the day and the heat of Konoha is yet to get unpleasant.
Naruto scoffs, but otherwise keeps quiet. They walk through the village, ignoring glares and hushed whispers of, "look, there's that monster," and, "quiet, you know we're not allowed to talk about that."
Kuro bares his teeth at them, enjoying the way civilians and ninja alike scurry into opposite directions.
Eventually, they come upon the Hokage building, but walk right past it and further away. Naruto leads Kuro up a set of dozen stairs leading up to the Hokage monument, the greenery is pleasant up there and Kuro can faintly hear the buzz of insects all around them. There's even the scent of cherry blossoms in the air, nice and sweet, but mild. They must be somewhere close, then.
Naruto takes a seat, his legs hanging off the edge of the monument and Kuro lowers himself just slightly beside and behind him. A gentle breeze ruffles his dark fur and Kuro lowers his large head onto his front paws.
"Master Naruto," he starts, "what are we doing up here?"
"Thinking," Naruto says, staring down at the village, watching as civilians and shinobi alike go about their day. They look like insects from Naruto's perch ━ easy to squish with the underside of his sandal. "Planning."
Kuro blinks. "Planning?"
"Mhhm," the boy nods, leaning back onto his hands and turning his gaze towards the blue sky. "There are certain things I have to do in order to become Hokage," he says, swinging his feet, lips curling into a smile, "like eliminating any and all potential candidates."
"Are there many?" Kuro asks, because his summoner is still just a child, but he's swinging his feet and smiling at the thought of committing murder and isn't that just interesting?
"Nah,'' Naruto shakes his head and then lays onto his back, turning to look at Kuro with something down right malicious shining in his deep, blue eyes. His smile turns softer, kinder as he leans in closer to the black wolf and murmurs, "just the current hokage and his ever so loyal council."
"But, first things first," Naruto says, reaching his hand out to pet Kuro, "I have to get back to the others and fix my mistake. I let my mask slip and I can't have anyone seeing underneath it, now can I?"
Kuro makes a low rumbling sound deep from within his chest when Naruto finally smoothes his hand down the back of his head and around his neck, petting him gently. His black tail thumps against the ground and Naruto raises an eyebrow, amused.
Something slips out from the sleeve of his orange jacket, sharp and dangerous; it glints in the sunlight and suddenly they're no longer on the Hokage monument. They're surrounded by lines of thick trees and the damp earth. Kuro blinks, staring at his summoner in question. They're still in the same exact positions, Naruto on his back petting the black wolf.
Naruto smiles. "Something wrong?'' He asks, moving his hand to scratch behind one of Kuro's ears.
"No,'' the black wolf answers. So, he muses internally, this child can teleport at will? He's going to become quite the menace to society… "I'm not going to ask any questions. You've been kind enough to let me see the real you. That's all I can ask for."
Kuro gets a rewarding pet to the side of his jaw accompanied by Naruto's nice smile ━ he isn't sure if its real or fake ━ and even if he tries, he can't quite stop his tail from wagging in excitement.
"Naruto!" A voice yells from the distance.
Kuro immediately springs into action. He raises himself to his original height and curls himself possessively around his summoner, growling in warning.
"Relax,'' Naruto murmurs, standing to his feet. He runs his hand along the side of Kuro's flank and the wolf's growls come to a slow stop. Naruto motions the side with a raise of his chin, "look," he says, "It's just Sakura and Sasuke.''
And true to his words, Sakura comes crawling out from between bushes, looking triumphant. She rubs her thumb underneath her nose. "I told you I could find him," she says, "my senses are getting better already."
Sasuke follows after the girl. His vocabulary is as good as ever. "Hn."
Naruto blinks and Kuro watches as his mask falls back into place. His stance relaxes, limbs loose and lazy, and his face morphs to form confusion. "Where’s Kakashi-sensei?'' He asks. "Chairo and Shiro too?"
Sakura scrunches up her nose, looking rather like she'd swallowed a whole lemon. "I told sensei to get his shit together but I doubt he's doing anything but moping right now. He's waiting for us at training ground three. Shiro left not long ago, saying there was something she had to do back home. Chairo left with her."
"To sleep," Sasuke voices, irritated, "Chairo left to go sleep."
Kuro's tail flicks behind him. "Master Naruto,'' he says, "I'll be taking my leave as well. My siblings are rather… problematic when left alone. If you need me, you know how to summon me."
Naruto nods and Kuro inclines his head, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"So…" Naruto trails off awkwardly, playing with the hem of his orange jacket. He keeps his gaze on the grass below him.
Sakura opens her mouth, evidently to say something, but Sasuke beats her to it. "Let's go, dobe. It's our third day of being genin and all we've done is summon ninken and beat up our loser sensei."
"T-that's true," Sakura says, stumbling over her words, "let's go train. We want to get stronger, after all… right?"
Naruto nods. "Right."
The three make their way through the thick forest surrounding the training grounds, having to crawl through bushes and walk over fallen down trees that someone left in the wake of their own training. Eventually, they make it to training ground three.
The sight before them makes them all sweatdrop.
"Pakkun, what do I do?'' Kakashi despairs, sitting down on his knees and holding his pugs tiny paw between his large hands. "Should I beg for forgiveness? Should I write out a new will in case Minato-sensei rises from the dead to kill me? Even worse, what if Kushina rises from the dead? It'll be worse than death, Pakkun. She'll definitely torture me first━"
Pakkun, who's struggling to release his paw from Kakashi's tight grip, growls, "for the love of God, Kakashi, let me go."
"Er, sensei, what are you doing?"
Kakashi jolts upright onto his feet, holding Pakkun in front of him like a shield. "N-naruto-kun! When did you get here?''
Naruto squints his eyes. "Like two minutes ago?"
His sensei despairs further, deflating like a balloon to the ground. Kakashi groans miserably. Pakkun continues to struggle out of his summoner's grasp. They're a terrible sight for sore eyes.
"Ah," Sakura says, "he looks like a zombie right now."
"Hn," Sasuke agrees. "A loser zombie."
Naruto nods solemnly, crossing his arms across his chest. It's kinda pathetic, really. Surely the third hokage couldn't have assigned them a better sensei?
Sighing, Naruto nudges Kakashi's shoulder with his sandal. "I get it, ya know. It's cool. Orders are orders, or whatever. I'm technically not supposed to know who my parents are and all, so…"
"It’s cool, he says," Kakashi muffles into the ground, sounding weary with age, "orders are orders, or whatever."
"Kakashi," Pakkun literally begs, "let me go. I cannot handle any more of your childish tantrums right now."
Sighing deeply, Kakashi eases his grip on Pakkun and pretends to sob when the pugg escapes his grasp, kicking dirt back into his face with a growled, "get yourself together, for God's sake."
With a roll of his eyes, pakkun disappears in a puff of smoke.
"Well," Sakura says, grabbing Kakashi by the back of his jounin vest, "now that we have that cleared…" she trails off, lifting the pathetic lump of a man into a sitting position. "Teach us something good and stop wasting our time."
Still defeated, Kakashi nods. There's a grey cloud above his head as he taps his knuckles twice onto the ground, indicating for his pup's to take their usual positions. With the kids sitting in front of him, Kakashi fiddles with one of the many pockets on his vest and reluctantly pulls out a pair of shiny, silver bells.
Quietly, he explains the rules. "This is a survival exercise. Out of the twenty-seven academy graduates, only nine of you will be recognised as true genin."
Postures straightening up, Kakashi's pups look both intrigued and worried. The jounin continues, "today's assignment is to take these bells away from me by noon."
"But there's only two bells," Sakura points out, "and three of us."
"Maa," Kakashi finally raises his head, looking his cute little pups in the eyes, "at the very least, one of you will have to return to the academy. Two bells, two graduates. It's basic maths."
Naruto blinks owlishly. He turns to whisper at Sasuke. "Okay, so I may not be the smartest, but didn't he say there were nine spots available?"
Sasuke nods. "Three man teams. He's trying to trick us again."
"Ugh. This guy is terrible," Naruto grumbles.
Kakashi shakes the bells in his hand very lightly. "I'll set my clock to twelve," he says. "You won't be able to take these bells from me unless you come at me with the intent to kill."
"I imagine that won't be too hard," Sasuke huffs. He stands to his feet and places his hands into his pockets, looking ever so bored. "Anything else?"
"No," Kakashi shakes his head, "you can begin when I give you the signal."
A breeze gently ruffles everyone's hair. Kakashi closes his eye.
"Begin."